1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an automatic assembling machine and, more particularly, is directed to an automatic assembling machine of the type in which a conveyer automatically supplies a carrier to a work station for assembling parts thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Automatic assembling machines are widely used in manufacturing lines for various types of equipment. In a conventional automatic assembling machine, a carrier is transferred to at least one assembly station by a single conveyer. Each assembly station performs various processing and assembling of parts on a chassis carried by a carrier, and thereafter, the carrier is discharged onto the conveyer for use in a subsequent step.
With the above-described automatic assembling machine, movement of the carrier, that is, the line of transfer of the carrier, on the conveyer and with respect to each assembly station is fixed and cannot be varied. For example, with such automatic assembling machine, a carrier having an unassembled chassis thereon cannot be fed to an assembly station simultaneously with the discharge of a carrier having an assembled chassis from the assembly station. As a result, exchange of the unassembled and assembled carriers with respect to each assembly station takes a relatively long time, resulting in loss of manufacturing time and a low assembling efficiency. It is to be appreciated that, because the line of transfer of the carrier is fixed, such conventional automatic assembling machines have an extremely low flexibility in adapting to various manufacturing equipment to be assembled and lack an adaptability to changes in the type of equipment to be manufactured or assembled. In other words, each time that the type of equipment to be manufactured or assembled is changed or a manufacturing step is changed, a plurality of assembly stations must be transferred and/or modified. This results in lengthy preparation, resulting in loss of operating time of the manufacturing equipment and a low working efficiency.